So why is this disease such a problem in both developed and developing countries?

It may seem somewhat ironic that the world’s most affluent populations are the most prone to a disease caused by dietary deficiencies. But it isn’t nearly as surprising once you learn more about this deadly disease and why peopleend up with it.

The issue is that most people simply don’t have any real nutritional education.

Here, I want to help shed some light on the root causes of Diabetes II as well as equip people with the knowledge to manage or prevent the disease. Afterall, knowledge is often the best way to protect yourself—especially where health is concerned.

If you’re reading this article you’re probably already aware of many of the dangers of Diabetes II, but you might not be aware of:

You can reverse type 1 and 2 diabetes naturally

The Special Risk the Developed World Faces

While modern science hasn’t yet identified any single cause behind Type 2 Diabetes (or Type 1 Diabetes for that matter), there is a lot of evidence pointing to “a combination of genetic and environmental factors”.

However, recommendations on how to manage diabetes and prediabetes agree:

Diet management is the most effective way to combat diabetes. Indeed, it is actually essential to any serious diabetes care plan.

Whether you’ve been diagnosed with full blown type 2 or “prediabetes”, you’re likely to get the same recommendation. That’s because the key to both prevention and management of type 2 diabetes is to live a healthy lifestyle.

It’s just that many across the world who you have the best opportunity to do so choose not to.

Understanding and Managing Carbohydrates, Fat, and Protein

This has left many in the dark when it comes to what “eating health” truly means. In many cases, people are zealously pursuing low-fat or diets and seeing no results. Or worse, they are exacerbating negative conditions in their bodies with these incomplete regimens.

More than anything else, the anti-diabetes diet is about returning to foods that work better with our biology.

As you’ll see, it’s less about eliminating total carbs or fats, and more about eliminating the wrong carbs and fats, then balancing your intake.

The truth is, your body needs both fat and carbohydrates to function properly. And while protein’s place in our diets has never really been questioned, the same rule applies for all three of our main energy suppliers:

Choose high quality sources for all three: protein, fat, and carbs.

But that begs the question, what makes a source of calories a good source?

Types of Carbohydrates

It’s important that diabetics and prediabetics avoid blood sugar spikes.

The highly-refined, “simple carbohydrates” the industrialized world consumes are probably the number one dietary cause of insulin resistance. Not only do they spike blood sugar quickly, but they are often consumed en masse by a society that relishes in the experience of food perhaps a little too much.

Fiber is the indigestible part of plant-based foods that slows the digestive process. This helps reduce blood sugar spikes and provide steady, sustained energy. It also helps keep you regular and makes you feel full faster. Plus individuals who eat high fiber diets are at a lower risk for high blood pressure and heart disease.

Starch comes from foods like potatoes, corn, and grains. It is essentially made from long chains of glucose that are more slowly digested in the body than are simple carbohydrates. In fact, some even act more like dietary fiber.

The debate on how much starch we should be consuming has been raging for a few years now. The American Diabetes Association website doesn’t even give an official verdict on grains and starchy vegetables. It’s safe to say that starch is better for you than sugar, but by how much is up for dispute.

While the American Institute of Medicine still recommends 45% to 65% of our daily calories comes from carbohydrates, there have been scholarly indications that this is too much for awhile now.

While the Institute’s plan puts the recommended daily dietary allowance at about 130 grams. However, much of the latest research indicates that less than 50 grams—or even 30 grams—may be sufficient with a diet high in protein and the right fats.

“Good Fats”

For too long, conventional medicine has vilified all fat in our diet.But the fact is that eating fat does not necessarily make us fat. For the average citizens of modernized nations, refined sugars are much more likely to do that.

In fact, any amount of fat actually provides your body with more than twice as much energy as the same amount of either carbohydrates or protein. This means that more fat in your diet means you can eat less and receive the same amount of energy from your food.

Just like with carbohydrates, the type of fat you eat makes all of the difference. Generally speaking, everyone should avoid trans fat altogether and try to limit their saturated fat intake. But most of us could use a lot more unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids.

The main thing you need to remember concerning fat and diabetes is that fat does not cause blood sugar spikes the same way that carbs do.

Proper Protein Sources

One of the many luxuries that citizens of the developed world take for granted is the easy access to protein.

For our hunter-gatherer ancestors, meat was a lot harder to come by. In fact, the vast majority of the protein in their diets came from plant-based sources. Today, the concept of protein from plants may seem foreign to you.

Nowadays, our diet contains an over-abundance of meat. And while meat is an excellent source of protein and other vital nutrients our body needs, the vast majority of the meat that we eat is packed with trans and saturated fats. Not to mention, we often finish up such meals with sugary drinks and carb-laden side items.

More and more people are discovering that nuts, beans, seeds, and other plant-based food items are some of the healthiest sources of protein (and good fats) on the planet.

Nutrient Rich Diet

As a metabolic issue, it can be tempting to see diabetes II as a disease caused completely by the quality of the energy contained in our diet.

However, painting such a picture isn’t accurate.

There are a variety of vitamins and minerals that are absolutely critical to how the body processes energy. Then, there are others that play an indirect role in preventing diabetes by keeping related systems healthy and running smoothly.

To reiterate, the diet to manage or prevent type 2 diabetes is composed of the same foods everyone should be eating. Especially important to diabetes (and most chronic disease) prevention are vitamins and other antioxidants.

Reading labels and seeking out foods that have high levels of vitamins and minerals is a great way to increase the quality of the food you eat but most people aren’t willing. So the simplest healthy-eating advice is to seek out whole foods with the least amount of processing.

If you’re serious about fighting diabetes, you’ll have to concentrate on making more diabetes-fighting foods staples in your diet.

What to Avoid

When most people think of a diet to prevent diabetes, their mind immediately jumps to what they can’t eat.

That’s really not surprising, given our culture around food. And this is why I chose to present information about what you should be eating first: the right carbs, the right fats, the right proteins, and the right nutrients.

This shouldn’t be about losing the food you love but gaining your health and a body you can love.

Still, there are very few people in the modern world who have a truly balanced diet that is devoid of diabetes-promoting foods.

The main reason?

So many of our most popular foods contain things that we should only consume in small quantities—or not at all. About 80% of the packaged food you find in your grocery store contains added sugar. Trans fat is contained in SO many of America’s favorite foods.

If you eat out, especially fast food, you usually have to make extremely austere choices to avoid added sugars and trans fat: no fried foods, no buns, no sauces.

One of the biggest reasons for this is because processed foods are less expensive to purchase and prepare. We support the decisions of these corporations to source the cheapest ingredients simply by trying to save money.

Certainly, this is one of the uglier sides of capitalism. However, it’s not the end of the story. With increased demand, prices actually fall. Therefore the best way for people to lower the prices on higher quality food is to buy more of it.

Now I hear you some of you starting to clamor about how you can’t afford to eat healthier. But I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to break the bank to pick up eating habits that will help you avoid diabetes.

The main thing is that you find a plan and stick to it (but more on that later).

Start by checking labels and educating yourself. Read the nutrition facts, but more importantly the ingredients. Try to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from your diet as quickly as possible. I take things a step further by avoiding acronyms, enormous words, and anything with numbers.

There are also a variety of habits to avoid when fighting diabetes or prediabetes. And while some of these lifestyle choices aren’t related to diet at all, there is nearly as much to be said about how you should eat as there is about what you should eat.

Means of Managing Diet

Diabetics and pre-diabetics need to pay especial care to to eat the right way.

Don’t skip meals, not even breakfast. No late night snacking. No binge eating. Each of these can affect blood sugar levels and ultimately impact insulin resistance.

Ideally, we would eat smaller portions, more often throughout the day. While most snack foods aren’t all that great for those trying to avoid the onset of type 2 diabetes, snacking is a great way to keep blood sugar levels steady throughout the day. Just select healthy snacks.

You can even eat dessert if you choose the right ones and don’t overindulge in portions or frequency. Make sure that both your snacks and your sweets are factored into your overall regimine.

For anyone trying make a habit out of eating healthier, discipline is almost always one of the biggest problems.

Laying out a detailed diet management plan is one of the easiest ways to combat this issue. Depending on your health, it might be imperative that you begin a strict regimen right away. Or, it may be that you can gradually work your way towards a true diabetes fighting diet.

Whatever your path, there are variety of meal management strategies and tools created to help people combat diabetes.

Plate Method

The plate method is something like “Diabetic Dieting for Dummies” in that is it is extremely simple.

Still, a large portion of the developed world could put this to good use in order to fight the myriad health problems that result from the low nutritional content of our food.

The plate method is a mealtime strategy in which half of one’s plate is filled with “non-starchy vegetables”, a quarter with protein, and the last quarter with grains or starchy foods. A serving of fruit and/or dairy is allowed as well. Only unsweetened drinks follow the plate method.

This is one simple change that could have a sustained positive impact on the various health crises we currently face, not just diabetes.

Carb counting

Carb counting is often a doctor-recommended course of action.

For self-motivated people who are willing to keep a record of what they eat every day, carb counting can allow peace of mind and flexibility at the same time.

Remember to consult your doctor before making any dramatic nutritional changes. But if you know you are pre-diabetic and feel that you have the discipline to stick to a hard cap on your daily carbs, this might be a great option for you.

If you are prediabetic or have already been diagnosed with type 2, your doctor is likely to recommend fewer than 100 daily grams of carbohydrates per day and may eventually take you all the way down to 25 grams of carbs daily.

Anyway, carb counting can be a useful tool. But for some people it actually becomes integral to their everyday. Those who take more than one daily injection of insulin or use an insulin pump are especially likely to be required to count carbs.

The Glycemic Index and Diabetic Exchanges

For those with a bit more at stake, there are more precise meal-planning tools.

You’ve likely heard of the glycemic index. It is simply a system that ranks foods on a scale from one to one hundred based on how severely each affects blood sugar levels.

Once you understand how to use it, it becomes one of your most powerful allies in the fight against insulin resistance.

Similarly, diabetic exchange lists help people conceptualize and compare the amount of carbohydrates contained in their foods.

Foods are organized into groups based on similarities, but the main point is to establish portion sizes so that any item on the list is essentially “exchangeable” for any other item on the list. Diabetic exchanges are typically used by carb counters.

With either of these—or any meal planning tool you use for that matter—their effectiveness ultimately comes down to you. Do you have the resolve to prevent this disease?

To make life simpler for you you can visit our resource page, download the green list. When you only work from the green list it will be hard to go over your daily carb limit and reversing type 1 and 2 diabetes becomes easier.

The Best Advice

No matter who you are or where your health currently stands, diabetes is a real threat.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, 415 million adults currently have diabetes, with that number projected to rise over 640 million by 2040.

So the best advice for anyone looking to prevent diabetes is to get started now and to do so in earnest. If you are serious about jump-starting your lifestyle change, then you need a solid plan.

In my opinion, the best way to augment your chances of success is to find a proven diabetes-fighting diet plan that is based on the latest science. Not only do you get the reassurance from previous results, but you can trust that the information will have staying power due to that scientific basis.

Whatever your path to prevent diabetes, stick to it. And while you’re at it, bring your friends and family along with you.

We all need to make changes to our diet in order to avoid such easily preventable diseases. The result of a life led from sugar rush to sugar rush is inevitably chronic disease. It sounds bad until you realize that it is completely within your control.

Now that you have a better understanding of what it the “diabetes diet” actually looks like, go out and apply it. Remember, you don’t have to lose all of your favorite foods, simply make better choices.

Anyway, I’ll be here for support along the way. If you have questions or need clarification, don’t hesitate to comment. Likewise, if you have other diabetes-fighting tips or think I’ve left something out, don’t hesitate to give feedback. And if you think that fighting diabetes is a worthwhile cause, please like and share!